How to Promote Your Business on Flickr (OpenForum)

Chat is our main means of communication. At the very least we blip back and forth every day, and our friendship and business operations run all the better for it. Nothing waits to end up a surprise and we stay aware and on track. I personally recommend the chat client Digsby to anyone who will listen. It’s a great consolidator and keeps me notified of any updates via all my social sites and avoids the bugs that they many different chat clients have on their own.

Google Docs has proved to be our second-most relied upon means of collaboration.  It’s easy for me to write up an idea, share it with Drew and have him notified via email.  From then on we can both edit in real-time, and more often then not create goals and cross them off as we complete them. We were skeptical of it at first as it looks bare when compared to MS Word, but its behind-the-scenes goodness means you should check it out now. It also provides the ability to work on client presentations and export them the the more corporate PowerPoint format. There is also all of the features of Excel lodged into the spreadsheet, which we use for basic budgeting in a crunch.

Screenshots used to be tedious, but with JetScreenshot for PC and Skitch for Mac the process is quick enough to be part of our regular means of sharing ideas.  Instead of an in-depth description of a problem, it simply gets circled and shared. We’ve tried all sorts of screen-sharing applications, but none has proved as useful as the quick screenshot. (Tip for JetScreenshot, go to your Settings, Share Options,  and set Share to FTP as your default option. Jpgs are better than frames.)

Skype has been a life-saver when a large project needs to be done yesterday. We can leave it up and be able to swap information as easily as working in the same cubicle. To quickly switch my mic on and off I’ve adopted the use of global hotkeys.

The Difference Between a Paid ad and a Free ad

One important thing to consider when searching through the thousands of daily classifieds is where you are searching.  The “Jobs” section of Craigslist immediately filters out those wanting something for nothing; it costs $25 to post a web design job in Seattle.  Usually these will be long term hiring positions and many of them are posted through recruiting companies like Creative Circle or Law Dawgs. Look for contract positions in these sections. Don’t expect that to mean temp-to-hire and don’t burn a bridge here because contract employers can make excellent references. Just like Google, the right keywords can make the valuable content stand out. Don’t limit your search to one category. Search “All Jobs “and narrow down the ones that interest you based on their keywords and titles.

The Ever Refreshing “Gigs”

Computer and Creative are two categories that receive hundreds of posts per day asking for anything from “Help me install Windows” to “Build me a large corporate site like MySpace”. The average poster has a budget of about $5.82, and will include equity in their soon-to-be-worth-millions idea. Despite being flooded by posters with illusions of grandeur, this category is where I have had the most success in finding business in a slow time. These are not the high paying long-term projects that established companies need (usually), but consist of individuals wanting a blog re-design, small businesses wanting to upgrade their ‘98 website, and start-ups needing a logo or business card.

This is one job hunting area where you should take full advantage of spending your valuable time trying to acquire projects that you would enjoy in some way. Don’t spend time writing an email for a job designing the back of playing cards if you have no interest in filtering through clip art and remaking illustrations so they don’t violate copyright.  Gmail’s Canned Responses plug-in is great for saving time on these. Describe your experience, what you specialize in, and that you would like to discuss the details further. This can expect a very small return rate, but if you customize an introduction or signature to reflect their specifics they will know you’ve read their ad and want to work with them.

The $5 Logo

The topic can never be preached enough, but if this is not your first time putting pencil to paper and you have spent thousands of dollars on education, years in time, and minutes alive you need to avoid these posts at all cost. Not only will they be Burner Clients, neither of you will have much respect for the other. That’s just how it will work.  The cost of a logo should be based on the effort you are expected to put into it, multiplied by the monetary rate you deserve for your expertise (time on project x hourly rate = fixed price). Promises of future work or referrals are all just the words of a salesman trying to get a good deal on your time. If a car salesman promises to tell people about the great free website you built him, you should get a free car to drive around and tell people about the great service he offers. And if you are spending $5 worth of your time on a logo, you either bill too low and hurt the design industry as a whole, or are cheating your client out of an important aspect of their business which they may not realize the importance of.